Across a school year, we teach and have students write in multiple genres: informative/explanatory, persuasive, narrative, and research. When teaching persuasive writing, teachers often default to having students write a five paragraph persuasive essay on a controversial topic or write a persuasive letter asking for something from their parents. Both of these types of writing align well with the persuasive writing standards. The purpose of this blog post, however, is to show you four spins on persuasive writing that you may not have considered before. All four writing unit ideas were created with middle school students in mind, and they won’t cause your students to say, “We did this exact same writing project last year!”
Idea One: Product Review
About this Genre: In this genre, students pick a product to review. The “product” can be an object, restaurant, local business, or type of technology (think movie or video game). Students learn how to structure a review by including an introduction, an explanation of their connection to the product, reasons for the recommendation, and explaining what type of consumer they would recommend the product to. This type of writing is extremely common in or world today whether people are writing a review on their most recent Amazon purchase or giving a review on Google to a restaurant they just ate at. Students select a product they’re passionate about recommending to others, so their persuasive voice really comes out in this writing unit.
The Mentor Text: I’m a big believer in using a mentor text for every writing unit that gives students a visual of what they’re aiming for as their end product. That is why in all of my writing units, I include a mentor text that I’ve written as I’ve gone through the exact writing process I will take students through. I wrote the mentor text for this writing unit about one of my favorite local restaurants that my husband and I like to go to.
The Unit Plan: So how do you get students from understanding what a product review is to writing their own? I recommend taking students through the writing process, focusing on one part at a time. Each writing lesson listed in the unit plan below is intended to last one class day. In the Product Review Writing Unit linked here, I have a detailed teacher lesson plan, PowerPoint / Google Slides presentation to share with students, and graphic organizers / handouts for each lesson. I’ve also included a variety of rubrics for assessing the final writing product.
Idea Two: This or That Essay
About this Genre: In this genre, students take two people, brands, businesses, activities, types of technology, or forms of entertainment that are commonly compared and make an argument for why one is better than the other. It’s a fun genre of writing because I’ve noticed students debate all the time over what is better, whether it’s between two types of candy, two football teams, even two different hot lunch options. Students just love to debate and prove their opinion. That’s what made me think the “this or that” concept would be perfect for a middle school persuasive writing unit. The format of this writing unit involves an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs to give three reasons their chosen topic is better than the topic they’re comparing it to, and a conclusion paragraph.
The Mentor Text: I wrote the mentor text for this writing unit on Instagram vs. Facebook. My students seem to have strong ideas of what social media networks are the best, so I thought this would be a fun topic for middle school students to relate to. Although their debate would probably be TikTok versus Snapchat, which I can’t weigh in on because I don’t have either one! 🙂
The Unit Plan: So how do you get students from understanding what a “this or that” essay is to writing their own? I recommend taking students through the writing process, focusing on one part at a time. Each writing lesson listed in the unit plan below is intended to last one class day. In the Product Review Writing Unit linked here, I have a detailed teacher lesson plan, PowerPoint / Google Slides presentation to share with students, and graphic organizers / handouts for each lesson. I’ve also included a variety of rubrics for assessing the final writing product.
Idea Three: Important Issue Letter
About this Genre: Students get the chance to research issues they’re passionate about at different levels: home, school, city, state, country. Ultimately students will select one issue that’s important to them and write a letter to an intended audience stating their stance on their selected issue. This unit also includes a research component and a counterclaim. My favorite part of this writing unit is the last step when students share their important issue letter with their intended audience.
The Mentor Text: I wrote the mentor text for this writing unit about why schools should use Standards Based Grading. There are also mentor texts I wrote for this unit on Year-Round Schooling and why my city should have an Olive Garden. 🙂
The Unit Plan: So how do you get students from understanding what an important issue letter is to writing their own? I recommend taking students through the writing process, focusing on one part at a time. Each writing lesson listed in the unit plan below is intended to last one class day. In the Product Review Writing Unit linked here, I have a detailed teacher lesson plan, PowerPoint / Google Slides presentation to share with students, and graphic organizers / handouts for each lesson. I’ve also included a variety of rubrics for assessing the final writing product.
Idea Four: Book Recommendation
About this Genre: Students select a book they love and write a book recommendation that involves an introduction, three paragraphs about three reasons they recommend the book, and a conclusion. A book recommendation writing unit is the perfect unit to follow an independent reading unit. It also lends itself very well to speaking and sharing book recommendations with the class. Students can then get ideas of books to read from other students.
The Mentor Text: I wrote the mentor text for this writing unit on the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Not only is the point of view of this book unique, but it also has a great message and informative social mission behind it.
The Unit Plan: So how do you get students from understanding what a book recommendation essay is to writing their own? I recommend taking students through the writing process, focusing on one part at a time. Each writing lesson listed in the unit plan below is intended to last one class day. In the Product Review Writing Unit linked here, I have a detailed teacher lesson plan, PowerPoint / Google Slides presentation to share with students, and graphic organizers / handouts for each lesson. I’ve also included a variety of rubrics for assessing the final writing product.
I hope one of those four ideas gave you a little inspiration for ways to spice up persuasive writing in your classroom. If you’re interested in finding out more about my writing units, you can view the year-long writing curriculum bundle that includes 11 writing units here. You can also download the freebie that gives you information about the middle school writing units here.
